9.16.2005

Kampongan and hot dogs

Our halal hot dogs and all of our toppings are of the highest quality and should appeal to everyone. We have big juicy beef hot dogs, for those that don't eat beef we offer big mouthwatering chicken hot dogs and for those that like it spicy, we offer chicken jalapeno hot dogs. Everyone has their favourite and we pride ourselves in having a hot dog for everyone. I still have the occasional "kampongan" (Malaysian Hillbilly) wander in and inquire whether or not we are selling dogs, but overall business has been doing great, however the other night I seem to have faced my nemesis.

I did a search for the word, but couldn't find anything (at least in English). I've asked Jordan at Macvaysia about it, so I'll see what he says.

Update: Jordan said:

I suppose kampongan has roughly that meaning, though not precisely. Kampong is the old spelling for 'village' (now spelled kampung). Kampongan would perhaps be a broader term, referring to anything and everything related to a small village, but I think it's a word that is sometimes used to describe someone who can't lose their 'village' attitude.

Not sure if that other blog mentions it, but the word kampong actually---as far as I know---gave us an English word: compound, at least one definition of it. I think it entered English by way of Dutch. Only one meaning of compound comes from kampong: 'a building or buildings, especially a group of buildings, set off and enclosed by a barrier'. What's interesting about this is that another definition of 'compound' entered Malay from English, this time as 'kompaun', which is what you pay when a police officer pulls you over for speeding. Interesting, eh?

Note the Canadianism he used at the end: "eh" (he's Canadian).

It's worth it to know, at least virtually, native English speakers who know Malay so that they can educate us all.

2 comments:

I think I've heard of that hot dog place. I'll have to check it out when I'm back in Malaysia next week.Speaking of 'kampongan' and dogs, I know a guy in Malaysia who wouldn't let his kids wear Hush Puppies because---yep, you guessed it---he didn't think it was right to make shoes out of puppies. *sigh* :P